In Hope of a 'Happily Ever After' Finally
by ScarredCrow
Summary: After learning about Xehanort's plan to collect 13 darknesses, team Keyblade is on a hunt for their own 7 lights. For this race to find long lost friends, they must search for the people that set their future in motion... Will they succeed before Xehanort does? Or will the task require them to get closer to the dark than they ever intended? (Story follows Dream Drop Distance)


**Characters, settings, and most background belongs to Disney, Square Enix, and those who hold copyright on the Kingdom Hearts games.**

Terra could feel the light going out. Xehanort was making it impossible to resist. Only the memory of his friends, his family, caused him to hold on, no matter how loose his grip. His heart would soon be extinguished, nothing more than a faint annoyance in the back his enemy's mind. He had to make the most of the time that remained for him to make a difference. He had the assist the others. _If they're still out there. _He shook away that thought. Even if Aqua and Ventus were gone, there were more who could take up their swords and fight off the darkness. He remembered the boy on that island. A small world. _Maybe it will remain untouched until he's ready_, Terra hoped. _Maybe…._

The room was silent save for Sora's light snoring. Yen Sid sat at his desk pouring over faded ink on crumbling paper. Lea shook his head and shifted his weight. There was no way he'd learn anything from those old documents and with Xehanort still building his army of…. Himself, they couldn't afford to waste time like this. They needed to be out there, searching for a way to stop him before he succeeded. And considering how much progress he'd made the last time they'd seen him, he was close. Too close.

The door swung open, creaking in the lost silence, and Riku strode in. Kairi followed him and stood before Yen Sid. Lea's eyes dropped to the floor and his weight shifted again, more out of discomfort this time than annoyance. A lot of things had happened since he'd last seen the girl. That had been when Xehanort had had a hold of his heart, when he'd been nothing more than an empty shell seeking his lost friend. He never found Roxas but instead realized that it was time to resist the darkness. To help the boy Roxas had come from, who continued to snore as the old man briefed Kairi.

Lea looked over at Sora, whose snoring was beginning to infuriate him. He kicked his chair, nearly knocking it over and drawing the attention of the entire room. Sora shot up and stood there a moment before noticing that his friends had returned for the first time. His face lit up as he rushed over and embraced them. Kairi grinned and held tight to him. "Together again," She whispered to him. "Just like I promised," he replied. "And we won't be separated again." He swore, pulling away and holding them at arm's length.

Lea was the first to see her.

Her hair was as blue as the sky and fell into beautiful eyes that announced her lingering torment. She didn't look very old but her face showed that she'd been through more than most her age. Lea stood then, recognizing the unmistakable signs of years in the dark. "Ahhh. Sora, Kairi, Riku, Lea, this is Master Aqua." Yen Sid said, re-gaining the group's attention. They all turned to look at her. Kairi pushed her hair back behind her ear and studied the girl as though she knew her but couldn't quite remember why. "You've grown since I last saw you," she muttered to the trio. The three of them cocked their heads, trying to summon any memory of her. She gave a small, shy smile and nodded.

"Aqua helped fight Xehanort many years ago." Aqua laughed, an uncomfortable sound lacking any trace of humor. "Look how well we handled _that_!" she shouted a bit surprisingly. She walked around them all toward the window, giving her back to them so they wouldn't see her tears. Weakness at all was shunned and used as a weapon against you in the darkness and she'd become accustomed to hiding it. Yen Sid sighed. "You're not to blame. None of you are." He looked down, closing his eyes as though the thought of the past pained him. "Why did you bring me here?" she demanded quietly. The question hung in the air for a moment before he replied. "Because we need your help to find two of our own that have wandered too far from our reach." He answered.

The others looked confused, pondering his cryptic reply but Aqua merely stared out at the stars knowing that somewhere on those stars, _they_ waited for someone to free them. _I'm coming_, she willed them to hear. _Soon…._


End file.
